Healthy and Soft Banana Bread Oatmeal Bars

These Banana Bread Oatmeal Bars taste like a nostalgic banana bread recipe, but in bar form. With bananas, rolled oats, soft oat flour and flax seeds, these banana chocolate chip oat bars are great for meal prep snacks, kids lunchboxes, on-the-go and more!

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If there’s anything that rings true, it’s that we are a snack family through and through. As a Registered Dietitian and mom of four, I’m pro-snack.

We’re on the go often, and when I can make healthy homemade snacks, like these banana oat bars, I’m on top of my game.

These healthy banana oatmeal bars taste like banana bread, but in bar form. They’re high in fiber, thanks to the flax seeds, oats and oat flour, and flavor from the bananas, butter, and chocolate chips. They are lightly sweetened with maple syrup.

I rotate between these, date and oat bars, and no bake peanut butter cheerio bars.

Why You’ll Love Banana Bread Oat Bars

• Great for on-the-go breakfast – I love these as banana bread breakfast bars, paired with 1-2 hard boiled eggs for a quick portable breakfast! Even easy to pack in stasher bags for the kids.
• Nutritionally balanced – This baked banana bar recipe has the perfect combination of protein, fiber, and healthy fats, all of which help keep you and your kids fuller for longer.
• Simple ingredients – You may have everything you need on hand, minus the oat flour, which can be made by blending oats in your high speed blender!
• Freezer friendly– I’m a huge fan of snacks that can go right in the freezer for a longer shelf life, or to pull out for postpartum, post-surgery and busy seasons of life. I’ll even put them in the lunchbox and they are thawed by lunchtime!

Ingredients You Need

Here are the ingredients you’ll need, with a few notes for clarification. Make sure to scroll to the recipe card for the full amounts.

• Oats – You may notice we’re using both oats and oat flour! Yes – the oat flour makes these light and airy, while the oats add a little sturdiness. If you don’t have oat flour, you can either blend your own in a blender, or use white whole wheat flour. That was my favorite replacement in testing!
• Butter – Make sure the butter is melted, or opt for melted coconut oil.
• Flax seeds – You can either use whole flaxseeds or ground flaxseed; both work fine!

How to Make Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

The prep work comes together quickly, and then you’ll just throw these banana oatmeal chocolate chip bars in the oven, and snacks are ready!

You’ll know your bars are done when a fork comes out clean. Try to let them cool for 10 minutes, so they won’t crumble as easily.

A Few Tips From Recipe Testing

• Use ripe bananas for a sweeter finish – I found that using ripe bananas allowed me to reduce the maple syrup slightly. A great way to limit the added sugars!
• Storage – I love to store cut chocolate chip banana oatmeal bars in stasher bags in the freezer, but you can also wrap them individually in plastic wrap and freeze. This can be great for road trips, hiking snacks and kids lunches – they usually thaw by lunchtime.
• Add nut butter – Since banana, peanut butter and chocolate go so well together, I find that these bars are extra delicious when topped with a layer of your favorite nut butter! Plus, it adds extra protein, fiber and healthy fats.

Servings 12 bars

Healthy and Soft Banana Bread Oatmeal Bars

Sarah Schlichter, MPH, RDN

These Banana Bread Oatmeal Bars taste like a nostalgic banana bread recipe, but in bar form. With bananas, rolled oats, soft oat flour and flax seeds, these banana chocolate chip oat bars are great for meal prep snacks, kids lunchboxes, on-the-go and more!

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Ingredients  

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Dry Ingredients

• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup oat flour or whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 Tablespoons ground flaxseeds, optional

Wet Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 2 mashed bananas*
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ½ cup butter, melted or oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, mix your dry ingredients.
3. Form a hole in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to the same bowl. Stir well, adding chocolate chips in last.
4. Transfer banana oatmeal mixture to a greased 8×8 baking pan or use a piece of parchment paper. Top with extra chocolate chips if desired.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until fork comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and top with sea salt before enjoying. Cut into 9-12 bars.

Notes

*Ripe bananas will work best when mashing. To mash, place bananas in a small bowl or on a flat surface, and push down with the back of a fork. 

 

Equipment

stasher bag great for freezing

8×8 pan

Nutrition

Serving: 1Calories: 232kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 4gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 149mgPotassium: 177mgFiber: 3gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 286IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 51mgIron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?Let us know how it was!